< Numbers 17 >

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,
2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, and receive from each of them a rod by their kinships, from all the leaders of the tribes, twelve rods, and write the name of each one on his rod.
“Speak to the people of Israel and get staffs from them, one for each ancestral tribe, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff.
3 But the name of Aaron shall be for the tribe of Levi, and one rod separately shall contain all their families.
You must write Aaron's name on Levi's staff. There must be one staff for each leader from his ancestors' tribe.
4 And you shall place these in the tabernacle of the covenant before the testimony, where I will speak to you.
You must place the staffs in the tent of meeting in front of the covenant decrees, where I meet with you.
5 Whomever of these I will choose, his rod will germinate, and so shall I restrain the complaints of the sons of Israel before me, by which they murmur against you.”
It will happen that the staff of the man whom I choose will bud. I will cause the complaints from the people of Israel to stop, which they are speaking against you.”
6 And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel. And all the leaders gave him rods, one for each tribe. And there were twelve rods, aside from the rod of Aaron.
So Moses spoke to the people of Israel. All the tribal leaders gave him staffs, one staff from each leader, selected from each of the ancestral tribes, twelve staffs in all. Aaron's staff was among them.
7 And when Moses had placed these before the Lord, in the tabernacle of the testimony,
Then Moses deposited the staffs before Yahweh in the tent of the covenant decrees.
8 returning on the following day, he found that the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi, had germinated, and that the swelling buds had opened into flowers, which, spreading their petals, were formed into those of an almond tree.
The next day Moses went into the tent of the covenant decrees and, behold, Aaron's staff for the tribe of Levi had budded. It grew buds and produced blossoms and ripe almonds!
9 Therefore, Moses brought out all the rods, from the sight of the Lord, to all the sons of Israel. And they saw, and each one received their rods.
Moses brought out all the staffs from before Yahweh to all the people of Israel, and each man took his staff.
10 And the Lord said to Moses: “Carry back the rod of Aaron into the tabernacle of the testimony, so that it may be kept there as a sign of the rebellion of the sons of Israel, and so that their complaints may be quieted before me, lest they die.”
Yahweh said to Moses, “Put Aaron's staff in front of the covenant decrees. Keep it as a sign of guilt against the people who rebelled so that you may end complaints against me, or they will die.”
11 And Moses did just as the Lord had instructed.
Moses did just as Yahweh had commanded him.
12 Then the sons of Israel said to Moses: “Behold, we have been consumed; we have been ruined.
The people of Israel spoke to Moses and said, “We will die here. We will all perish!
13 Whoever approaches to the tabernacle of the Lord dies. Will we all be wiped away, even to total annihilation?”
Everyone who comes up, who approaches Yahweh's tabernacle, will die. Must we all perish?”

< Numbers 17 >